


All the Things That You Do to Your Face

by backatpatrickpark



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Crossdressing, Fluff, Gay Zuko (Avatar), M/M, Mistaken Identity, Not in a sex way!!, Oblivious Zuko (Avatar), Suki and Zuko being bros, very light angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24989749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/backatpatrickpark/pseuds/backatpatrickpark
Summary: "Hey Suki, who's the new girl?"Zuko could practically see Suki's coy smirk from the corner that he'd jammed himself into."Oh, she's a new recruit," Suki whispered to Sokka, making sure the young Firelord could hear it. "She's a good fighter, but she'sterriblyshy."When his friends finally glanced towards him, Zuko jerked his neck so they could only see his right side, but made sure that his kohl-rimmed glare was pointed straight at the Kyoshi warrior.He was never going to live this down.(Suki dolls up the Firelord, and Sokka finds himself with a crush.)
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Suki & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 1313





	All the Things That You Do to Your Face

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to AndyBoy here on AO3 who (lovingly) peer-pressured me into writing this and beta'd it for me. It's uh been a long time since I wrote anything so forgive me if it's off 😳.

Less than a year into his reign, Zuko was still overwhelmed with the sheer magnitude of issues he had to confront every day. Most of his waking hours were spent attending meetings with various nobles, diplomats, and representatives, and when he wasn’t discussing politics, he was tending to official paperwork. He’d long since accepted that most of his time wasn’t his own, and it made him all the more desperate to enjoy the time that he did have to himself. Today, he had stolen away for a few hours with the excuse that he had to attend an important meeting with the captain of his royal guard. If any of his advisors remembered that his head guard was also one of his best friends and on her day off, they had the good grace to not say anything.

\---

“Oh, come on, you promised me ages ago that you’d let me do it,” Suki pleaded, dangling her makeup bag in front of Zuko’s face as he leant back as far as he could without falling off of her sofa. Their Very Important Meeting had brought them to her quarters, where Suki had immediately suggested that they see what he would look like in a Kyoshi uniform. He wondered idly if she had picked up this method of nagging from Sokka when they were still together.

The young Firelord poked at his nails, not wanting to admit how much he'd like to indulge her. “I’m just not sure. I’m not big on makeup, you know,” he mumbled. He narrowed his eyes towards her, hoping she would understand his reluctance.

Suki narrowed her eyes right back at him, clearly taken aback by his refusal. "Well, don't act so insulted," she huffed. "It's warriors’ paint, and I don't let just anyone try it on. Most people would be honored."

Zuko grimaced with embarrassment. "No, no, it's just that, you know..." Zuko rolled his wrist a couple times, trying to figure out what exactly it was he wanted Suki to know. "Just because I like boys doesn't mean I want to be a girl, you know?"

"Yeah, no, of course not! I mean," Suki leaned back on the sofa and let her mouth spread into a knowing smirk. "Sokka pulled it off, and he's definitely a boy." Zuko choked on his last sip of tea. He tried to stop his mind racing off at the speed of light. What did she mean? Did she dress Sokka up, too? Or was she saying that he was the same... _sort_ as Zuko? Surely she must've known about his little crush, then. "I'm sure you remember seeing him in our uniform when you... ah... _visited_ Kyoshi for the first time." Her smirk widened with Zuko's eyes as he recalled the stocky Kyoshi girl with a wolftail. Of course it was Sokka. Because if anyone could pick up a new style of fighting, join an elite warrior group, and look flawless doing it, it would be him. Zuko groaned and sunk further into his chair. When he popped one eye open, he saw Suki still staring at him expectantly.

Zuko had barely managed to squeeze out an, “Oh, what the hell,” before he was seized by his shoulders and pushed behind the changing screen. He heard the sound of Suki rummaging through her drawers and took long breaths to steady his nerves while he undressed. He quickly pulled on the olive green garment that Suki tossed over the screen, which for dignity's sake he was going to call a robe, and crossed the room to the vanity, where Suki sat with her makeup-stained leather pouch bunched up in her hand and an excited glint in her eye. "You look lovely, Firelord Zuko," she announced, putting stress on the unnecessary formality. Zuko smiled back at her despite his nerves. "Now get your ass over here and let me do your makeup."

Zuko complied, tilting his head back to gather his hair into a sloppy bun to keep it back from his face. A glance at his face in the mirror gave him pause. He turned back to Suki, who was rifling through her makeup pouch. "Won't the whole thing look weird with, you know..." He raised his left hand to gesture vaguely at his face.

Suki frowned for a moment and then shook her head. "No, your scar shouldn't look too different from the rest of your face. You might still see the ridges underneath, but with the primer," She dabbed a blob of it onto Zuko's unscarred cheek and began to rub it in with her thumb. "The color should be consistent." He tried not to flinch as she moved to the left side of his face, rubbing the primer into his brow bone. _She's a friend,_ he reminded himself, flinching away nonetheless. _I can trust her not to hurt me._ Seeing his hesitancy, Suki lifted her hand away, feigning that she had to fish a new tool out of her pouch. "You know," she continued, glancing back at Zuko, "One of my girls has a burn on her face, too." There's a little stab of guilt in Zuko's gut. He was one of the first firebenders to come to Kyoshi; could it have been...? Suki must've been able to see him retreating into himself, because she quickly backpedaled. "No man, don't worry. She passed out with her hash pipe still lit next to her face."

"Oh."

And of course that's sad, but not as sad as being charbroiled by an angst-ridden prince, so Zuko allowed himself a small smile of relief. Suki smiled back and lifted a tub of white greasepaint and a sponge, continuing to talk as she gently pressed the cream onto his face. "All I'm saying is, you know, the makeup doesn't do away with her scar completely. It's still part of her face, but it doesn't make her warrior paint any less beautiful or intimidating." Zuko let his eyes fall shut as she gently sponged the paint onto his scar tissue. "It's just another feature.”

They fell into a comfortable silence after that. While the white paint dried, Zuko combed out his hair and allowed Suki to wrap a simple green headband around his temples. Every so often Suki would tap his chin to signal that he needed to relax his features or shift his face to a different angle. For several minutes, the room was silent except for Suki's murmurs of praise as he obligingly let her contour his cheeks, paint his eyes, and finally tint his lips a bright cherry red. As she lifted the brush away from his mouth, he fluttered his eyes open and tried to gauge her reaction. For a moment she just stared.

 _She's not saying anything because you look like a freak!_ hissed a little voice in his mind at the same time that Suki grinned and announced, "You look so gorgeous, Zuko!" _She's mocking you. This was a stupid idea._ Zuko opened to mouth to say as much when Suki gently grasped his shoulders and turned him to face the mirror. "See?"

Zuko stared mutely at his reflection. Surely the person staring back at him wasn't the young Firelord. They looked more confident, more regal with their deeply slanted brows and pouting red lips. But that was his glossy black hair, his golden eyes, and the ridges of scar tissue still visible underneath the white paint. Just like Suki said, it was still a part of his face, but it didn't seem to detract from him. He tilted his head, and the face in the mirror followed suit. So that was him after all. His first thought was that maybe Suki was right- he really doesn't look half bad. His second thought was the question of what Sokka would think if he saw him: would he think he was pretty? Or would he just laugh? His third and final thought was that with his face contoured to be more feminine, he looks less like his father and more like- 

His heart twinged and he ushered the thought away before it could finish forming. Instead, he picked up the fan Suki had placed on the vanity and flicked it open, admiring the elegant finish it gave to his outfit. 

Right as he pushed himself out of the vanity chair, Suki's door swung open with a bang. For a moment, Zuko and Suki stared dumbly at each other before he dove out of sight and she rushed to greet Sokka, who was standing with a wide grin in the doorway. Zuko clung to the wall as they swapped greetings and prayed to every god he knew that he was quick enough to avoid being seen. 

"Hey Suki, who's the new girl?" 

No such luck. Zuko could practically see Suki's coy smirk from the corner that he'd jammed himself into. When his friends finally glanced towards him, he jerked his neck so they could only see his right side, but made sure that his glare was pointed straight at the Kyoshi warrior.

"Oh, she's a new recruit," Suki whispered, making sure the young Firelord could hear it. "She's a good fighter, but she's _terribly_ shy." Zuko rolled his eyes. Even if she hadn't clearly been biting back a grin, only a complete airhead would fall for that bullshit.

 _Only complete airheads and Sokka,_ his mind corrected him. Sokka smiled broadly and clapped his hands. "Shy, huh?" He closed in on Zuko, who repurposed his glare at Suki into a pleading look. In response, she just winked and quietly excused herself to check on lunch, as if it weren’t served at the same time each day. Both boys watched her leave. Once she was gone, Sokka turned back to him and flashed a smile so bright that Zuko's knees almost collapsed beneath him. It was not unlike the ones Sokka usually shared with him, he realized with a blush. But there had to be something different about it, because Sokka thought he was looking at someone else entirely. Zuko stared at that grin for several moments before he realized it was moving. "What did you say your name was?"

Eyes wide, Zuko fumbled with his fan and flicked it open so it covered his scar and wondered if Sokka could see him biting his lip as he wracked his brain for a name to give. "It's, um," he stalled for a minute, because yes, Sokka _was_ staring at his lips. He pitched his voice up, hoping Sokka wouldn't recognize it. "It's Mushi." He resisted the urge to hide his face entirely. _The fake name you made up to embarrass Uncle. Very sexy._

Sokka didn't notice his agony, because he just pressed on. "That's a very pretty name," he said, and braced himself against the wall with a lean but muscular arm that Zuko let his eyes linger on for longer than he normally would. If he didn't know Sokka as well as he did, didn't hang on his words like a lovesick kid, he would believe it, too. Sokka gave him a much softer smile, the kind that Zuko only sees in his daydreams and sometimes when they stay up too late, shoulder-to-shoulder on a spacious bed talking quietly about their places in the world they'd made. It was the one reserved for offering comfort and quiet shows of affection, and Zuko couldn’t help feeling a flash of jealousy that Sokka would show it to a girl he’d barely met. But then Sokka said, so, so softly, “You have such beautiful eyes, Mushi.” And Zuko couldn't help it if he basked in the praise for a moment or two. 

He knew he should leave, should excuse himself back to his quarters, should leave Sokka in the dust wondering what he said wrong. But Sokka hadn't discovered him yet. Surely it wouldn't be such a risk to look into those shining blue eyes for a moment longer. Or to coyly turn up the corner of his painted lips. Or to lean into the hand that was hovering at his waist. Surely he could pretend for a minute that the young warrior could ever hold interest in him. He was still peeking out from behind his fan when Sokka spoke up again. "Hey, are you by any chance related to the royal family?"

Shit. Had he caught on? It probably would’ve been smart to cash in now and leave before he was exposed, but something about the way Sokka looked at him made him want to stay there and preen under the other boy’s gaze. He chose to play coy, giving a quiet, "Hm?"

Sokka shrugs nonchalantly and says, "It's just, you've got the same nose as Zuko. It’s very noble, you know. Suits your face." Zuko had the presence of mind to wonder if his reddened cheeks showed through the makeup. "Your hair too. It's like," he paused, clearly reaching for some grand, poetic comparison. Zuko fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Silky black, uh... silk."

"Well, that's pretty common in the Fire Nation,” Zuko panned, wishing he could mock his friend for that one without revealing himself.

"Yeah, but those eyes are the same. They're like melted gold." Zuko glanced up, gave his best approximation of batting eyelashes behind Suki's fan. He had his back against the wall- literally, now- but he couldn't find it in himself to slip away as his friend leaned in towards him. 

"You've got his lips, too." Some small part of his brain paused to wonder if Sokka always thought of him before he kissed a pretty girl, but he could barely give that thought any attention before Sokka gently tilted his chin up and pressed their lips together. Without thinking he let the hand holding the fan drop to his hip, the weapon hanging limp and half open at his thigh.

The kiss was chaste and only lasted for several moments, but it was warm and soft and made something in Zuko’s heart swell until he thought it might burst. With his eyes closed, he felt rather than saw his friend break the kiss and shift to smile against his cheek. Sokka drew back about an inch, meeting Zuko’s eyes before leaning back in to whisper, "What are the chances you've got the same scar?" 

Zuko's eyes snapped open. _Well, shit._

In a blind panic, he drew the fan back up to his face, smacking Sokka away, and stepped away, desperate to put space in between them. He didn't know where in the palace he could flee to, dressed like this, but anywhere had to be better than here, wedged between the wall and an old friend who was no doubt disgusted by him. Before he could get far enough away, he was stopped by a gentle but insistent hand around his wrist, anchoring him in place. He glanced up to catch Sokka’s eye, unsure if he wanted to apologize or beg him to let him go. But the hate and disgust that he’d dreaded seeing in his friend’s eyes just weren’t there. Sokka didn’t even seem confused. He just offered that wide, warm smile again and pulled Zuko back into an embrace.

“You know something, _Mushi_?” he teased, punctuating the name with a laugh and a kiss to Zuko’s nose. Barely believing his luck, Zuko melted in his arms. “For someone who loves the theater so much, you’re a terrible actor.”

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Makeup by Lou Reed, because it's still Pride Month where I'm at and we love a New York queen!!


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